Democrats Ready for Black Lives Matter Question But Topic Gets Little Debate Time
Candidates improve on previous stumbles over civil rights movement but activists point out ‘predictable’ nature of question and the short discussion time
Lauren Gambino and Oliver Laughland in New York
Wednesday 14 October 2015 16.34 EDT
Race was the most discussed political issue on Facebook during Tuesday night’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas – but on stage, it was hardly discussed.
Halfway through the first Democratic debate, CNN moderator Anderson Cooper turned to his colleague Don Lemon to “talk more about issues of race in America”.
Lemon introduced a video clip of Drake University law student Sterling Wilkins, who asked the candidates to respond to a question about the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Do ‘black lives matter or do ‘all lives matter’?” he asked the five candidates seeking the Democratic nomination, who for the first time in eight years are all white.
At a debate viewing party in Harlem on Tuesday night, the crowd of mostly young black professionals hardly reacted, and some audibly groaned. The question – undoubtedly aimed at probing deeper issues of structural racism and the criminal justice system – was too predictable.
“It was a soft question posed just for them to agree with,” said Rae Hamilton, a 22-year-old international studies major who came to Angel of Harlem to watch the debate with her roommate. “There is definitely a more nuanced way of asking about the racial divide in this country. I wish they would ask them to confront this.”
When confronted by the Black Lives Matter movement on the campaign trail, the three leading Democratic candidates took turns stumbling. But on stage, they were prepared for it.
“Black lives matter,” Vermont senator Bernie Sanders responded without hesitation. Sanders had been interrupted twice by Black Lives Matter protesters at campaign rallies in Phoenix and Seattle. He has since met with the movement’s leaders and rolled out an extensive racial justice platform.
Sanders invoked Sandra Bland – the young black woman who died in Texas jail after being pulled over for a traffic violation – and said that as president racial injustice would be a top priority.
“We need to combat institutional racism from top to bottom,” Sanders said, to some claps and whistles in the bar. “And we need major, major reforms in a broken criminal justice system in which we have more people in jail than China.”
Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, who was criticised for misunderstanding the movement when he responded that “all lives matter”, said on Tuesday “as a nation we have undervalued the lives of black lives, people of color”.
“Black lives matter,” O’Malley said – to which a viewer at the bar said loudly, “Finally, he says it” – “and we have a lot of work to do to reform our criminal justice system, and to address race relations in our country.”
Clinton agreed with the other Democratic challengers. She decried mass incarceration, called for body cameras for police officers and a “new New Deal for communities of color” but failed to explicitly say the three-word statement, and was chided for the omission by some activists on Twitter – and Donald Trump.
Hamilton said she thought Sanders provided the best, most genuine response while former Virginia senator Jim Webb provided the worst. Webb shared a bizarre anecdote about representing a black Vietnam war veteran convicted of murder, before concluding his pitch to black voters: “I am your person.”
“‘Well I had a black friend once and I defended him,’” Hamilton said, mocking Webb. “That is nonsensical.”
Erica Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner, who was killed in New York after an NYPD officer placed him in a chokehold in August 2014, watched the debate from her home in Brooklyn.
Garner, who said she does not identify as either Democrat or Republican, expressed frustration that just one question was asked about violence against African Americans. But she added that Clinton’s “New Deal” argument felt the most detailed of all the nominees’ responses.
“I was into what she said about the New Deal, that it should be a new deal in place, that it doesn’t really start and begin with just one thing. I believe she’s on the right track to tackling it,” Garner said.
Black Lives Matter, the new civil rights movement that emerged in response to a succession of killings of young, unarmed black men by police, has sparked an urgent conversation about race and accountability in the US. On social media, many noted that the question, posed during a Democratic debate, demonstrated the power of their activism, even if it led to less than inspiring answers.
Selena Hill, a TV journalist and founder of Let Your Voice Be Heard Radio, which helped organize the Angel of Harlem watch party, said the candidates’ responses showed that they finally understood that only when black lives matter will all lives matter.
“It’s black and brown lives that are under attack when it comes to police brutality, the criminal justice system, the overpopulation of our nation’s prisons with black and brown people,” Hill said. “It’s not because we’re committing more crimes, it’s because we’re targeted.”
In particular, Sanders’ deft response on Tuesday night showed that he listened, activists noted on social media, Hill and several other activists noted.
“Sanders highlighting the need to combat institutional racism and the broken criminal justice was on point,” Deray McKesson tweeted.
Last week, Clinton met with McKesson and a handful of other young civic leaders to discuss her policies on race and criminal justice reform, telling them she wanted to end the use of private prisons and hinting at the shape of her long-awaited policy platform on criminal justice.
Overall, McKesson said: “I expected more discussion of race and criminal justice from all of the candidates during the #DemDebate. Let’s look at the platforms.”
Aside from the Black Lives Matter question, issues related to race were only broached on a handful of other occasions.
Webb was challenged on his controversial view on affirmative action, which he has referred to as “state-sponsored racism”. Cooper said his views are out of line with most Democrats, given that half the party identifies as non-white. Webb defended his position, saying he was where Democrats have traditionally been on the issue. Expanding, he said that while he supports the policy for black Americans, he does not believe that it should apply to all people “of color” at the exclusion of poor white Americans.
The former Maryland governor was also pressed on his record as mayor of Baltimore, which erupted in protest in April over the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died from a spinal injury after being taken into police custody. Cooper noted that the city’s top prosecutor blames O’Malley’s “zero tolerance” policies for “sowing the seeds of unrest” in the city.
As mayor of Baltimore, O’Malley instituted a zero tolerance approach to crime that led to dramatic reductions in drug violence and homicides. Though he touts this as one of his major achievements, some civic leaders say his policies disproportionately harmed residents of color, and as Cooper noted, he was named in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and NAACP over the city’s “pattern and practice of illegally arresting tens of thousands of individuals each year”.
“We’ve saved over a thousand lives in Baltimore in the last 15 years of people working together,” O’Malley said. “And the vast majority of them were young and poor and black. It wasn’t easy on any day. But we saved lives and we gave our city a better future, improving police and community relations every single day that I was in office.”
Lauren Gambino and Oliver Laughland in New York
Wednesday 14 October 2015 16.34 EDT
Race was the most discussed political issue on Facebook during Tuesday night’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas – but on stage, it was hardly discussed.
Halfway through the first Democratic debate, CNN moderator Anderson Cooper turned to his colleague Don Lemon to “talk more about issues of race in America”.
Lemon introduced a video clip of Drake University law student Sterling Wilkins, who asked the candidates to respond to a question about the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Do ‘black lives matter or do ‘all lives matter’?” he asked the five candidates seeking the Democratic nomination, who for the first time in eight years are all white.
At a debate viewing party in Harlem on Tuesday night, the crowd of mostly young black professionals hardly reacted, and some audibly groaned. The question – undoubtedly aimed at probing deeper issues of structural racism and the criminal justice system – was too predictable.
“It was a soft question posed just for them to agree with,” said Rae Hamilton, a 22-year-old international studies major who came to Angel of Harlem to watch the debate with her roommate. “There is definitely a more nuanced way of asking about the racial divide in this country. I wish they would ask them to confront this.”
When confronted by the Black Lives Matter movement on the campaign trail, the three leading Democratic candidates took turns stumbling. But on stage, they were prepared for it.
“Black lives matter,” Vermont senator Bernie Sanders responded without hesitation. Sanders had been interrupted twice by Black Lives Matter protesters at campaign rallies in Phoenix and Seattle. He has since met with the movement’s leaders and rolled out an extensive racial justice platform.
Sanders invoked Sandra Bland – the young black woman who died in Texas jail after being pulled over for a traffic violation – and said that as president racial injustice would be a top priority.
“We need to combat institutional racism from top to bottom,” Sanders said, to some claps and whistles in the bar. “And we need major, major reforms in a broken criminal justice system in which we have more people in jail than China.”
Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, who was criticised for misunderstanding the movement when he responded that “all lives matter”, said on Tuesday “as a nation we have undervalued the lives of black lives, people of color”.
“Black lives matter,” O’Malley said – to which a viewer at the bar said loudly, “Finally, he says it” – “and we have a lot of work to do to reform our criminal justice system, and to address race relations in our country.”
Clinton agreed with the other Democratic challengers. She decried mass incarceration, called for body cameras for police officers and a “new New Deal for communities of color” but failed to explicitly say the three-word statement, and was chided for the omission by some activists on Twitter – and Donald Trump.
Hamilton said she thought Sanders provided the best, most genuine response while former Virginia senator Jim Webb provided the worst. Webb shared a bizarre anecdote about representing a black Vietnam war veteran convicted of murder, before concluding his pitch to black voters: “I am your person.”
“‘Well I had a black friend once and I defended him,’” Hamilton said, mocking Webb. “That is nonsensical.”
Erica Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner, who was killed in New York after an NYPD officer placed him in a chokehold in August 2014, watched the debate from her home in Brooklyn.
Garner, who said she does not identify as either Democrat or Republican, expressed frustration that just one question was asked about violence against African Americans. But she added that Clinton’s “New Deal” argument felt the most detailed of all the nominees’ responses.
“I was into what she said about the New Deal, that it should be a new deal in place, that it doesn’t really start and begin with just one thing. I believe she’s on the right track to tackling it,” Garner said.
Black Lives Matter, the new civil rights movement that emerged in response to a succession of killings of young, unarmed black men by police, has sparked an urgent conversation about race and accountability in the US. On social media, many noted that the question, posed during a Democratic debate, demonstrated the power of their activism, even if it led to less than inspiring answers.
Selena Hill, a TV journalist and founder of Let Your Voice Be Heard Radio, which helped organize the Angel of Harlem watch party, said the candidates’ responses showed that they finally understood that only when black lives matter will all lives matter.
“It’s black and brown lives that are under attack when it comes to police brutality, the criminal justice system, the overpopulation of our nation’s prisons with black and brown people,” Hill said. “It’s not because we’re committing more crimes, it’s because we’re targeted.”
In particular, Sanders’ deft response on Tuesday night showed that he listened, activists noted on social media, Hill and several other activists noted.
“Sanders highlighting the need to combat institutional racism and the broken criminal justice was on point,” Deray McKesson tweeted.
Last week, Clinton met with McKesson and a handful of other young civic leaders to discuss her policies on race and criminal justice reform, telling them she wanted to end the use of private prisons and hinting at the shape of her long-awaited policy platform on criminal justice.
Overall, McKesson said: “I expected more discussion of race and criminal justice from all of the candidates during the #DemDebate. Let’s look at the platforms.”
Aside from the Black Lives Matter question, issues related to race were only broached on a handful of other occasions.
Webb was challenged on his controversial view on affirmative action, which he has referred to as “state-sponsored racism”. Cooper said his views are out of line with most Democrats, given that half the party identifies as non-white. Webb defended his position, saying he was where Democrats have traditionally been on the issue. Expanding, he said that while he supports the policy for black Americans, he does not believe that it should apply to all people “of color” at the exclusion of poor white Americans.
The former Maryland governor was also pressed on his record as mayor of Baltimore, which erupted in protest in April over the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died from a spinal injury after being taken into police custody. Cooper noted that the city’s top prosecutor blames O’Malley’s “zero tolerance” policies for “sowing the seeds of unrest” in the city.
As mayor of Baltimore, O’Malley instituted a zero tolerance approach to crime that led to dramatic reductions in drug violence and homicides. Though he touts this as one of his major achievements, some civic leaders say his policies disproportionately harmed residents of color, and as Cooper noted, he was named in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and NAACP over the city’s “pattern and practice of illegally arresting tens of thousands of individuals each year”.
“We’ve saved over a thousand lives in Baltimore in the last 15 years of people working together,” O’Malley said. “And the vast majority of them were young and poor and black. It wasn’t easy on any day. But we saved lives and we gave our city a better future, improving police and community relations every single day that I was in office.”
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